Owen Labrie, the 19-year-old St. Paul’s School graduate accused of raping a younger student at the elite prep school when he was an 18-year-old senior was acquitted yesterday of felony sexual assault charges. However, he was convicted of felony use of a computer to entice a minor into sex, 1 assault/battery-type misdemeanor, and 3 misdemeanors relating to having sex with a girl below the age of consent.

The trial provided a rare glimpse into the “backslapping sexual culture” among students at one of the nation’s most exclusive schools. Over nearly 2 weeks, jurors listened to prosecutors and defense lawyers ask witnesses about a custom called the “senior salute,” in which older students at St. Paul’s propositioned younger classmates for a last-chance encounter before graduation.

CBS and ABC news have explicitly called senior salute a “sordid sexual tradition”.

The culture at the school is all the more sordid in light of the fact that the school is affiliated to some degree with the Episcopal Church and describes itself as an Episcopal school. The culture also violates the school’s mission statement and its honor code.

Labrie now faces up to 7 years in prison on the conviction related to computer use, and 1 year on each of the misdemeanor convictions.

Prosecutors say he would also have to register as a sex offender for life.

Labrie had won a full scholarship to Harvard, which is now reportedly on hold. He had also received an award for his character and devotion to St Paul’s which has now been rescinded.